The Poems and Fragments of Catullus | Page 9

act?To swallow monies, empty purses heap on heap??But you--to please him only, shame to Rome, to me!?Could you the son, the father, idly ruin all?
XXX.
False Alfenus, in all amity frail, duty a prodigal,?Doth thy pity depart? Shall not a friend, traitor, a friend recal
Love? what courage is here me to betray, me to repudiate?
. . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Never sure did a lie, never a sin, please the celestials.
This you heed not; alas! leave me to new misery, desolate. (5) O where now shall a man trust? liveth yet any fidelity?
You, you only did urge love to be free, life to surrender, you. Guiding into the snare, falsely secure, prophet of happiness. 10
Now you leave me, retract, every deed, every word allow Into nullity winds far to remove, vapoury clouds to bear. (10)
You forget me, but yet surely the Gods, surely remembereth Faith; hereafter again honour awakes, causeth a wretch to rue.
XXXI.
O thou of islands jewel and of half-islands,?Fair Sirmio, whatever o'er the lakes' clear rim?Or waste of ocean, Neptune holds, a two-fold pow'r;?What joy have I to see thee, and to gaze what glee!
Scarce yet believing Thunia past, the fair champaign 5 Bithunian, yet in safety thee to greet once more.?From cares to part us--where is any joy like this?
Then drops the soul her fardel, as the travel-tir'd?World-weary wand'rer touches home, returns, sinks down In joy to slumber on the bed desir'd so long. 10 This meed, this only counts for e'en an age all toil.
O take a welcome, lovely Sirmio, thy lord's,?And greet him happy; greet him all the lake Lydian;?Laugh out whatever laughter at the hearth rings clear.
XXXII.
List, I charge thee, my gentle Ipsithilla,?Lovely ravisher and my dainty mistress,?Say we'll linger a lazy noon together.
Suits my company? lend a farther hearing:?See no jealousy make the gate against me, 5 See no fantasy lead thee out a-roaming.?Keep close chamber; anon in all profusion?Count me kisses again again returning.
Bides thy will? with a sudden haste command me;?Full and wistful, at ease reclin'd, a lover 10 Here I languish alone, supinely dreaming.
XXXIII.
Master-robber of all that haunt the bath-rooms,?Old Vibennius, and his heir the wanton;?(His the dirtier hands, the greedy father,?Yours the filthier heart, his heir as hungry;)
Please your knaveries hoist a sail for exile, 5 Pains and privacy? since by this the father's?Thefts are palpable, and a rusty favour,?Son, picks never a penny from the people.
XXXIV.
Great Diana protecteth us,?Maids and boyhood in innocence.?Maidens virtuous, innocent
Boys, your song be Diana.
Hail, Latonia, thou that art 5

Throned daughter of enthronis'd?Jove; near Delian olive of
Mighty mother y-boren.?Queen of mountainous heights, of all?Forests leafy, delightable; 10 Glens in bowery depths remote,
Rivers wrathfully sounding.?Thee, Lucina, the travailing?Mother haileth, a sovereign
Juno; Trivia thou, the bright 15
Moon, a glory reflected.

Thou thine annual orb anew,?Goddess, monthly remeasuring,?Farmsteads lowly with affluent
Corn dost fill to the flowing. 20 Be thy heavenly name whate'er?Name shall please thee, in hallowing;?Still keep safely the glorious
Race of Romulus olden.
XXXV.
1.
Take Caecilius, him the tender-hearted?Bard, my paper, a wish from his Catullus.?Come from Larius, haste to leave the new-built?Comum's watery city, seek Verona.
Some particular intimate reflexions 5 One would tell thee, a friend we love together.
2.
So he'll quickly devour the way, if only?He's no booby; for all a snowy maiden?Chide imperious, and her hands around him?Both in jealousy clasp'd, refuse departure. 10
She, if only report the truth bely not,?Doats, as hardly within her own possession.
3.
For since lately she read his high-preluding?Queen of Dindymus, all her heart is ever?Melting inly with ardour and with anguish. 15
Maiden, laudable is that high emotion,?Muse more rapturous, you, than any Sappho.?The Great Mother he surely sings divinely.
XXXVI.
1.
Vilest paper of all dishonour, annals?Of Volusius, hear my lovely lady's
Vow, and pay it; awhile she swore to Venus?And fond Cupid, if ever I returning?Ceased from enmity, left to launch iambics, 5
She would surely devote the sorry poet's?Choicest rarities unto sooty Vulcan,?The lame deity, there to blaze lamenting.
With such drollery, such supreme defiance,?Swore strange oath to the gods the naughty wanton. 10
2.
Now, O heavenly child of azure Ocean,?Queen of Idaly, queen of Urian highlands,
Who Ancona